You may have recently heard about an incident involving the transmission of the hepatitis A virus. Although the incident occurred in Mendham Township some Mendham Borough residents may have been affected. Mendham Borough had not been made aware of the incident until now. In response to the event, the Morris County Office of Health Management and the New Jersey Department of Health has been working to address the incident.
Please refer all questions about the incident to the Morris County Office of Health Management. You can contact them at 973 631 5484 or via their website https://health.morriscountynj.gov.
We strongly recommend you refer to the U.S. Center for Disease Control for additional information. The site provides detailed information such as what is hepatitis A, how is it communicated, who’s at risk, what are the symptoms, and what treatments are available. Here is the link to the CDC site https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hav/afaq.htm.
We strongly recommend that you immediately contact your health care provider if you believe you have been exposed to the hepatitis A virus. Here are the symptoms of hepatitis A according to the CDC.
- Fever
- Fatigue
- Loss of appetite
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Abdominal pain
- Dark urine
- Diarrhea
- Clay-colored stools
- Joint pain
- Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes)
Most children younger than age 6 do not have symptoms when they have hepatitis A. When symptoms are present, young children typically do not have jaundice but most older children and adults with hepatitis A have jaundice.
How soon after exposure to hepatitis A will symptoms appear?
If symptoms occur, they usually start appearing 4 weeks after exposure, but can occur as early as 2 and as late as 7 weeks after exposure. Symptoms usually develop over a period of several days.
